Tears and Jasmine
by Tortured Hylian Soul
Summary: During her final moments in life, twenty one year old Zelda comes upon her mother's old flute, and recalls a memory she would rather not dwell upon.


**Hiya peoples! This one-shot is a result of boredom and writer's block, just to let you know. (But I doubt you care) Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't updated my story, The Guardians: Book 1:Light. (or many of my other multi-chaptered stories for that matter. - ) Just to let you loyal fans know, I'm thinking about changing the title of The Guardians, 'kay? But I have been very ill for the last few days, (I'm not talking about just feeling a little cold and light-headed, I have been having couphing spasms and severe nausea. ) and my internet keeps dying. - -I have also been having writer's block. Sorry guys...But I will make it up to you. Can you other readers that have never heard of me PLEASE visit my profile and visit my stories, PLEASE! Oh yeah, one more thing. I have links to awesome Zelda music in my profile, and will be adding to the links from time to time. (Some of those songs might also be composed by me . )**

**Anyway, back to the story. This is set before and after Ocarina of Time. You may find a few things a little odd in this story too. For example: It explains Zelda's relationship with her mother. Impa is in her mid-twenties. Impa's mother is alive.**

**Ganondorf: Why am I here?**

**THS: To do the disclaimer thingy.**

**Ganondorf: Why should I, you puny mortal!**

**THS: I'll set you free with my writing powers, and you can wreak havoc upon Hyrule.**

**Ganondorf: 0 o ... Hmmm... Okay! Tortured Hylian Soul does not own The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo does-**

**THS: As well as the genius Shigeru Miyamoto. YOU'RE A GENIUS DUDE!I KISS THE GROUND YOU WALK ON! You brought the hottie Link to life! (huggles Link plushie) But i will own LOZ someday! You'll see. YOU'LL ALL SEE! BWAHHAHAHAHA!**

**Ganondorf: ... o 0 ... Uh-huh... Right...****Now set me free!**

**THS:...hmm... I'd rather not... Besides, you just claimed loyalty to Nintendo, you can only be freed by them. Anyway, ONLY I WILL EVER WREAK HAVOC UPON AN UNSUSPECTING LAND!**

**Ganondorf: (Darth Vader style) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

**THS: Oh, shut up and get off your pity pot Nancy. Please review! PLEASE!**

* * *

**Tears and Jasmine**

His knees buckled, and his limp body fell to the ground. He was on his back as he gagged uncontrollably; the once silver dagger now crimson with his blood, resting within the tender flesh of his throat. "Zel…da…" His beautiful sky-blue eyes, once filled with such life and joy, were now clouded, and filled with hate, rage, and sadness as he looked into mine. He gave a soft, sad smile, his tongue very far from its original pink hue. Dark red.

I didn't want him to see me cry within his last moments in Hyrule, but tears spilled out of my eyes. He let out one last shuttering breath, and began glowing an emerald light. The light disappeared as the sound of his breathing did the same. I would have screamed out, releasing all my pain and rage, but I couldn't because I was gagged and bound against a granite pillar.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me, princess," a familiar voice said. He laughed maniacally as he walked towards me, his fiery eyes looking into mine. "Your little Hero of Time isn't here to save you… Oh, I almost forgot." He pulled the dagger out of Link's throat, and shoved it into Link's right hand, cutting out the Triforce piece. I began sobbing uncontrollably. I couldn't accept the fact that he had won, and that they were all dead. Bodies were everywhere. Father, Link, Impa, men, women, children, Kokiri, Shiekah, Gerudo… everyone… All lined up at the castle to be tortured and slaughtered just moments ago. The man took out my gag.

"You shall pay for your sins, Ganondorf!" I spat out every word like poison. He glared at me.

"Shut up wench!" He punched me in the cheek. Hard. I heard a loud crack, and tasted blood. A sharp pain stung my cheek. I knew my cheekbone was broken.

The dark skinned Gerudo walked a few yards away from me, and reached into a pocket concealed within his cape. I saw something glint silver in the golden sunlight. "Remember this, Almighty Princess?" He removed the silver cloth covering it. I just stood there, speechless in shock. It was my mother's old wooden flute that had been passed down in our family. I remembered the last time I had seen it, a time I would rather forget, but could not. I closed my eyes in thought.

* * *

_The bright sunlight surrounded my mother like a veil as we sat in the royal garden. I kept fondling with my pink and white headdress as it repeatedly fell in my eyes, for it was much too big. I gave an exasperated sigh. She stopped playing the flute, and chuckled as she took it off, revealing my golden curls as they fell to the side. They were styled exactly like hers. "I never liked wearing those headdresses either, Zelda," she said, still chuckling. I smiled, the space were my baby tooth fell out showing. "But it's a Hylian tradition." Her warm blue eyes looked into mine as she returned the smile. She moved over a few inches away from me, and patted the now empty space next to her with her right hand. "Come here Zelda, there's something I need to show you." I moved over out of curiosity, noting the serious look in her eyes. She never had that look in her eyes._

_"Zelda, I am pretty sure that you remember that your ninth birthday is in a few days." I nodded. "And not only are you going to become the keeper of The Ocarina of Time, but there is another tradition you must follow." I looked directly at her. What was going on? She noticed my alarmed expression. "Don't worry, it is not something big. Here." She handed me the old flute. "Do you know how to play that song Impa plays for you when you have trouble sleeping?" I nodded again. "Do you know how to play it on both the ocarina and flute?"_

_"Yes," I said._

_"Show me."_

_I held the flute to my lips, and blew gently as I changed the position of my fingers for each note. We both smiled when I finished._

_"Very beautiful, Zelda! I am genuinely proud of you. Remember, you must play that at your birthday ceremony. Oh, I'm afraid I have missed the point, yet again." She chuckled softly, and shook her head. "Look on the side of the flute." I turned it. It had several feminine names carved into it, some in a language I could not decipher. "Zelda, as you know, I was born into the royal family unlike your father. My family,-our family, has been in the royal family for over thirteen generations. And every generation, a daughter was born, and the daughter carved her name into this flute at the end of the age of eight. You can still see mine." She ran her fingers over her name: Caedra. "Now, it is your turn." She handed me a sharp carving stick that was hidden in her pocket. I took it. It seemed like an eternity, but I finally finished carving my name. My mother smiled, and hugged me._

_"I am so proud of you, Zelda." She kissed my forehead. "I love you."_

_"I love you too, mother." I breathed in her jasmine perfume. She was never found not wearing the perfume. Everything she touched smelled like it. She loved it._

_Suddenly, twenty-six year old Impa and her mother, Athara, rushed into the garden. Athara was bleeding in several places as her right arm was placed over her daughter's shoulder. We both gasped, and bolted up simultaneously._

_"Goddesses above!" My mother swore. "Athara, what happened!"_

_Athara coughed up blood as Impa struggled to keep her standing. "Lizalfos… everywhere… tried… to keep them away…hide…" She collapsed to the ground, bringing Impa down with her. We started towards them, but Impa stopped us._

_"Stop! I know an old Shiekah spell that will help her! You must stay a safe distance away!" We backed off. Whenever a Shiekah was that serious, you had to stay away. Impa took out a bottle filled with a purple liquid, and poured it over the fallen Shiekah's wounds. A purple ring appeared around them. "Aniki… unai… ichos." With each word she uttered, the ring grew brighter until Athara glowed. Her wounds disappeared as she opened her eyes, gasping, and sat up. I just stared in amazement and disbelief. I didn't know Impa possessed power like that._

_Before I could comment, my mother scooped me up. She and the Shiekahs ran towards my mother's room._

_"Where's thatsuspicious Gerudo, Ganondorf?" my mother asked between breaths._

_"We don't know," replied Impa. "He disappeared a few hours ago."_

_"I'll bet he has something to do with this," mother muttered under her breath._

_Ganondorf had "pledged allegiance" to my father when I was seven, but my father was the only one of us who truly trusted him. The only Gerudo I could ever truly trust was Nabooru. A question then rang through my mind._

_"Where's father?" I asked worriedly to Impa._

_"We don't know." That was all she said. Nothing more._

_After running through a series of halls and corridors, we ran into mother's room, Athara closing and barring the heavy wooden door behind us. I was about to ask why we had journeyed all the way to her room, but my silent question was immediately answered. My mother's Triforce piece, wisdom, was levitating within a Nayru's Love spell. She placed me down and walked towards it, raising her hand above it. She began uttering words in Ancient Hylian, a language I did not yet understand._

_Suddenly, she stopped and drew her hand back, a shocked and confused expression on her face. "What is it!", we all chirped in unison._

_Before mother could reply, the Triforce piece floated out of the protective shield, towards…me!_

_"Goddesses above!" Impa exclaimed in quiet awe. "The Triforce of Wisdom has chosen you to be its keeper!" She turned to my mother. "But that only happens when the previous keeper is about to be-"_

_There was a deafening bang at the door. The Shiekahs slammed into the door, trying to keep it closed, but they were too late. The Lizalfos tore through the door like a piece of paper, throwing them to the ground, and knocking them unconscious._

_"Looooook…..", hissed one with a large jewel on his forehead, obviously the leader. "Thhhhhheee neeeeew Trrriiiffoooooorce keeeeeeeeeeeper!" I looked down. My right hand had a golden triangle on it, glowing dully. He grinned evilly. "Kill theeem aaallllll, aand eeeextraaact theee piece!"_

_His hand began glowing as a magic sphere of energy formed. He aimed it at me. I wanted to run, but my legs would not obey. I was completely paralyzed by a spell. He aimed his hand at me._

_"Zelda, NO!" I heard my mother shriek, and could hear her sobbing. The spell left the Lizalfo's hand, and flew towards me. I somehow managed to clamp my eyes shut._

_They immediately tore open as I heard a shriek of pure agony, and felt the paralyzation spell wear off. I gasped, and fell to my knees._

_My mother had taken the spell for me... She lay on the ground, shaking violently like one in a seizure, and abruptly fell completely silent and still._

_Time seemed to freeze._ 'This is all just a nightmare!' _I thought_. 'Impa will wake me up any moment, and give me a glass of warm Lon-Lon milk! Then she'll play the lullaby!'_ I thought this repeatedly as I mourned over my now dead mother, but knew that it was all very true. I then noticed that there was a strong burning on my right hand, and I suddenly felt a torrent of anger and hate wash over me._

_"Awwwwwwwwwwwww. Whaaaaaaaaaaat'sssssssss thee maaaaaatter princeeesssss?" The lizalfo said in mock sympathy. "Do you miss your mommy-"_

"SHUT UP!" _I shouted at the top of my lungs, jumping to my feet.I didn't care that there was a very large possibility that I was about to die, I would avenge my mother's death somehow and go down fighting._ "JUST SHUT UP!" _My right hand was burning very powerfully._

_Of its own accord, my right hand suddenly shot up, and my entire right arm began glowing. I felt extreme power course through my veigns as I became angrier with each passing moment. The lizalfos looked shocked and frightened._

_"KIIIIILLLLLLL HEEEEEERRRR YOOOOUU FOOOOLS!" one shouted. They all charged toward me._

_A bright light shot from my glowing hand, and knocked all but one to the ground. They were all dead but that one trembling survivor, staring at me with genuine disbelief and fear._

_"Tell your master that he will_ not _win easily!"_ _I snarled. Without batting an eye, he ran in the other direction. I_ _fell over my mother, sobbing,and saw something stir out of the corner of my eye. It was Impa._

_"What... happened?" she said weakly. She turned in my direction. "Zelda! What... OH MY GODDESSES!" She shot up, not caring that she was in pain, and raced toward me. After examining the body, she pulled me into a tightyet gentle hug._

* * *

I was shifted back into reality as I felt a hard kick to my abdomen. Ganondorf was glaring at me. "Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" He slapped me again. 

"As I was saying princess, you will pay for locking me away four years ago! If it wasn't for my stupid whore of a mother, I would still be in that hellish place you call the Sacred Realm!" He noticed my confused expression, and scoffed. "I would think the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom would at least own a few grains of intelligence. My mother went to the lighter side of the Sacred Realm after she…had an accident." He grinned evilly. 'Sick bastard.' I thought. "She came to help me," he continued. "her little baby boy."

"But I took advantage of her. When she was giving me her life energy to survive in that deadly place and became very weak, I switched our spirit locations with my new energy; I was in the lighter side, she was in the darker side. I still remember her shrieks of pain, and the shocked and hurt expression she gave me. She was sobbing. It was so rewarding."

"I went around, feeding on the souls of the innocent and pure, and soon had enough energy to escape; for souls of the pure contain much more energy. As you can _probably_ guess, I succeeded in escaping."

"As I remember, you lost your mother in an "accident" too," he said with a sick grin. I looked directly at him. "I thought I should tell you one of my secrets, princess." He leaned against my ear, and whispered, "I sent those lizalfos after you." I felt like I had just been struck by a tree, and began thrashing about and cursing violently.

"You know princess, I liked it better when you were quiet and still." He placed a hand over my throat, and muttered something unintelligible. I felt myself go limp and numb, and screamed out, "…..." My voice was gone.

"Perfect," he said. "Well, since that slow death curse that your mother caught was meant for you, I guess I should give it to you now. Sorry that it's late." A sphere of light formed in his hand, exactly like the lizalfo. It hit squarely were he kicked me. My mouth tore open and tears trickled down my face, but no sound came out. I felt like I was slowly being torn in half, and maybe I was, but I could not see anything. I clamped my eyes shut.

When I opened them again, the light everywhere blinded me. I looked down at my body to see the damage, and gasped in shock. I was in one piece with no marks, and clothed in a beautiful white robe. I then realized that I felt no pain at all. There was an itching at my shoulders, and I found that I had pure white-feathered wings. "I'm in the Sacred Realm!" I exclaimed. Exclaimed… I could speak again! I then heard a melodious feminine laugh. I looked up.

A woman dressed completely in blue, complete with blue hair and blue eyes, looked down at me with a gentle smile; the goddess Nayru! "Welcome, princess! My loyal servant and representative!" she exclaimed, the genuine smile never leaving her face. "There are some people who want to see you." She gestured behind me. I turned.

Father, Link, Impa, and Athara were smiling directly at me. I ran to them, hugging each of them, (and kissing Link).

Link smiled again at me. "Zelda," he said. "Someone else wants to see you." He gestured behind me, and I turned. A figure stood in the distance. I could not see who it was because I was so far away, but I recognized the familiar scent of jasmine perfume.

* * *

_**What do you guys think? If you dont get the ending, read the story again very carefully. I desperately need reviews. PLEASE REVIEW! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PUSH A BLUE BUTTON AND WRITE!**_


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